The present invention relates to remote actuation of equipment by means of transmitted security codes of a plurality of types.
Systems for the remote actuation of equipment, such as barrier movement equipment, are common today and are provided by many different manufacturers. Commonly, remotely controlled barrier movement systems include a wireless receiver which responds to a security code conveyed in accordance with a predetermined set of standards by moving a barrier when the conveyed code matches a code stored in the receiver. Should a transmitted code not be transmitted in accordance with the receiver's set of standards, the code will not be properly received and no barrier movement will be enabled.
One major manufacturer of garage door opening and other barrier movement systems presently uses at least three different sets of standards for conveying actuation codes. The three sets of standards have evolved for many reasons, such as improvements in technology and consumer demand for increasing security. One system uses synchronizing digits and 10 fixed code digits, another uses different synchronizing digits and 20 fixed code digits transmitted in two frames, and the third uses still different synchronizing digits, 20 "rolling code" digits, and 20 fixed code digits. The rolling code digits of the third system are not the same for each transmission but for improved security they change according to a preset algorithm known to both the transmitter and receiver.
As a result of consumer interest in automatic barrier movement convenience many systems of all of the above types, and those of other manufacturers, are in common use today. Also in common use today are barrier movement systems which are to be shared by many users. The front gate of a manufacturing plant or the front gate of a "gated" community are examples of shared usage of barrier movement systems. Today the front gate of such systems abides by a particular set of standards for code reception and each user is provided with a transmitter which transmits a code in accordance with that particular set of standards. Frequently, however, each user of a gated community also has a code transmitter for the operation of their own garage door or other security devices, causing inconvenience and even confusion on the part of the user.
One known automatic barrier movement actuation system has a receiver which can respond to and learn multiple types of codes. It operates, however, in only one code type at a time. That is, if the system is in the rolling code mode only other rolling codes of the same type can be used to actuate the system. If the system is in a fixed code mode, only other fixed code transmitters of the same type can be used. Thus, as with prior systems only one type of transmitter can be contemporaneously used. This inconvenience and lack of efficiency has given rise to a need for a barrier movement receiver and controller which can respond to different types of transmitted codes with appropriate security.
Additionally, any barrier actuation system must respond quickly to transmitted codes or the user will believe the system to not be responding to a fist transmission and will initiate a second transmission which may be interpreted by the receiver as another command. Studies have shown that for these human factors reasons the receiver should show the user some barrier movement within 1/2-1 second of the initial transmission. The discussed known barrier movement system has a learning mode in which it is capable of interpreting and learning an originally unknown code type. Such interpretation is done by arbitrarily assuming a type for an unknown received code and attempting to interpret the received code as if it is of the assumed type. If the interpretation fails, the receiver assumes another type of code and attempts to interpret the received code using the rules associated with the second code type. The interpretation continues using one assumed type after another until proper interpretation is achieved. This seriatim type of code interpretation has been found to require too much time to provide appropriate response to the user. Accordingly, a need exists for a more rapid method and apparatus for the response to multiple types of transmitted codes.